#!/usr/bin/perl -w
use strict;

my ($output);

eval {
  local $SIG{ALRM} = sub {die "SSH timeout\n"};
  alarm 15;
  $output = `/usr/bin/ssh -o ConnectTimeout=10 host.domain.com`;
  alarm 0;
};

if ($@) {
  print "SSH timed out\n";
}
else {
  print "SSH didn't time out\n";
}